


Telling the Family

by ChillyHollow



Category: Cormoran Strike Series - Robert Galbraith
Genre: F/M, Family, Phone Calls & Telephones
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-19
Updated: 2021-01-19
Packaged: 2021-03-17 20:27:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,436
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28855050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChillyHollow/pseuds/ChillyHollow
Summary: Another in the Big Reveal series, this time featuring Momma Bear Linda Ellicott and Overly Anxious Sister Lucy.  Each of these little chapters is standalone, but they show a progression.
Relationships: Robin Ellacott/Cormoran Strike
Comments: 3
Kudos: 28
Collections: The Big Reveal





	Telling the Family

Work had been very busy after the Christmas holiday so the office was going to be closed over the Easter break to give everyone a breather.Since he had a week off, Strike made plans to visit his uncle in Cornwall and asked Robin to go with him.She was happy to do so.Visits home to Masham were fraught—her mother was constantly complaining about Matthew’s latest visit home with her new wife and baby, fretting about Robin’s long hours and the dangerous job she worked, and trying to set Robin up with suitable men from home.She didn’t seem to understand Robin was happy in London and was never going to settle down with a local like her brothers either had done or looked likely to do.Robin dreaded telling her mother she was going to Cornwall with Strike as that would be admitting they were dating, something she hadn’t revealed as of yet.

She’d explained her feelings to Strike who was understanding.“Robin, I’m no parents’ dream catch for their daughter so I can imagine telling them we are dating will be a little tense.I still find it amazing you want to be with me.I’m a very lucky man.”He leaned over their desk and kissed her gently.“If you want to back out of the trip to St. Maws I'll understand."

“No!I’m going with you.I want to meet your uncle and of course you have to tell him we are dating, too.”

“I already have.He’s thrilled, of course, and he is eager to meet you.”

Maybe it’s easier for men, Robin thought.They seemed to be less protected, less told what to do, not considered helpless and too stupid to know what was best for them.Strike’s mother was dead, anyway, and his father had never been in the picture.She knew Lucy was a trial to her brother, though.

“Have you told Lucy we are dating?”

“Nope.I keep putting that off.”

“How about I tell Lucy and you tell my parents?”Strike looked at her, expressionless.Then he grinned broadly.“Deal!Who goes first?”

“Right NOW?!”Robin asked.

“Sure.Get it over with.I’ll call Lucy on my phone and give it to you and you can do the same.”

“Who’s first?”

“We’ll flip a coin.Loser goes first.”Strike pulled a desk drawer open and fished around among the pens, pencils and paperclips until he found a pound coin.“Heads or tails?” he asked.Robin chose tails. Strike flipped the coin into the air where it spun and twisted, then landed in his open palm, twirling, then landing heads up. 

Robin made a face as Strike pulled out his phone and called Lucy.He handed the phone to Robin just as Lucy picked up. 

“Corm?”Lucy said.

“Hi, Lucy.It’s Robin.”

“Robin!Is everything ok?!Why are you calling on my brother’s phone?”

“We had a bet and I lost.”

“What?”

Robin laughed.“It is the silliest thing.Cormoran and I flipped a coin to see who had to call the other’s family first to tell them we were dating. I lost so I’m calling you.Cormoran and I are seeing each other, Lucy.”

Lucy didn’t say anything for a moment, then she squealed.“Fabulous!How long?”

“Not too long but he’s asked me to go to Cornwall with him to meet your Uncle Ted.Do you think that’s ok?”

“Sure!Uncle Ted will love it.When are you going?”

“Over Easter break.What are you guys doing Easter?Are the boys out of school?”The conversation turned to Lucy’s family, how the boys were doing, and their plans for Easter.Lucy explained that her husband couldn’t take time off so she and the boys were going to do day trips around London and they’d have a picnic on the weekend if the weather held.Lucy ended the call telling Robin that she and Cormoran had to come to dinner soon.

“We’ll set a date after Easter, Lucy.Right now we’re really busy trying to get everything wrapped up before we go to St. Maws.One of us will call you, ok?”

They hung up and Robin handed Cormoran’s phone back.“That was easy,” he said, impressed.“She’d have kept me on the phone for an hour!”

“Now it’s your turn.”But at that moment Pat knocked on their closed office door and told them a client had turned up early for a meeting.So Cormoran’s call was postponed until the client meeting was over, several important phone calls had been answered and Pat had fetched them all sandwiches for lunch.Strike brewed teas for himself and Robin and took them back into their office where Robin was unwrapping their egg and pickle sandwiches and opening the bags of crisps.He sat down in his office chair and told Robin, “Call home for me?I need to keep my end of the bargain and tell your parents we are dating.”

Robin pulled out her phone and dialed.As soon as her mother answered, Robin handed the phone to Strike and left the office, shutting the door behind her. 

“Linda?This is Cormoran Strike.”

“Oh, God.What has happened?Is Robin all right?”

“Of course she’s ok,” he said, confused.“I’m just calling about Easter plans, that’s all. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“Easter plans?”Now Linda was confused.

“Yes, we are closing the office for an Easter break because we’ve been working such long hours.So I invited Robin to go to St. Maws with me to meet my uncle.Since she and I have started dating, I want her to meet the man who mostly raised me.”

Linda said nothing.“Robin said that you wanted her to come to Masham for Easter so I wanted to explain.”His voice trailed off.Linda still didn’t say anything.He could hear her breathing, though.

“Linda, I know I’m not the man you would have chosen for Robin, but I love her dearly.I want you to know that I’ll do everything in my power to make her happy.”

Linda finally spoke.Strike could tell she was crying.“Cormoran, I am so happy for you both.Robin loves her job and I worried that she’d never meet anyone with the long hours she works.This is a load off my mind, frankly.Michael has been saying you two were perfect for each other for ages.”

“You know I’m ten years older than Robin and I’m disabled, right?And I am not coming into any big inheritance when my father dies.”

“None of that matters if you love each other,” Linda said.“I admit I’d prefer it if Robin would come back to Yorkshire to live and found someone in the area so I could see her more often, but that’s just me being selfish.I know her life is in London and with you.” 

“I do love her, Linda, but I know your support means a great deal to Robin.Shall I tell her you forgive us for heading to Cornwall Easter?”

“Yes, but I don’t forgive her for not telling me herself that you two are dating.”

“That’s my fault.I got her to tell my sister and in return I volunteered to call you.”

Linda laughed a little.“Families,” she said.“I remember how much I dreaded telling my parents Michael and I were dating way back when we were teenagers.”

“So we are good?”

“Yes, but I hope you’ll both come up to Masham when you can.”

“We will.My uncle is a widower and much older than you, Linda, so we need to make haste.My aunt’s death last year showed me I can’t wait too long to do things.We won’t forget to come see you.”

“Just don’t wait too long.Give Robin our love.”Linda hung up and so did Strike.He took a bite out of his sandwich, then stood and opened the door.Robin was standing behind Pat’s desk, looking at something on Pat’s monitor.She looked up at him, a question in her eyes.  
  
“Your mother says she hopes we get to Masham soon but she’s ok with us going to Cornwall to see my uncle Easter.”Robin gave him a dazzling smile. 

“You aren’t going anywhere mister until you get your expense reports for this week to me,” said Pat sternly.

Strike made a rude gesture behind Pat’s back.Robin rolled her eyes and headed back to her desk to eat her sandwich before Strike finished off her bag of crisps as well as his.


End file.
